A Slight Change In Fate

It was too much. She couldn't take it anymore. These were the thoughts going through the mind of one Katsura Kotonoha as she stood on top of a bridge. Why was she here? Because the love of her life, Itou Makoto, had cheated on her.

She had known for a while, she wasn't stupid. But she desperately tried to deny it. To think that it was just a mistake and that their love would be preserved. But she was only fooling herself. Saionji Sekai, a girl who she thought was her friend, had stolen him.

Not only that, but he had been sleeping around with other girls behind her back. She cried. If only she had slept with him, done things differently, maybe...

But it was useless now. The past was done. There was nothing left for her in this world. She took one last deep breath and jumped.

How fitting. She thought to herself. Dying alone. And no one cares.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING MORON!" Came a voice from out of nowhere. Kotonha's eyes shot open as she heard it. But it was too late. Or so she thought.

Suddenly, a shadowy blur streaked over the bridge and caught her mid-fall. Then, to her astonishment, the shadowed figure moved her to his back and brought his hands together.

"Moko Takabisha!" The figure called out as he shot his hands forward and fired a golden yellow blast of energy from them! To her astonished eyes, it was like something out of a manga or anime.

The blast rocketed them back upwards and the figure that saved her flipped a few times in the air and landed on the bridge like it were the easiest thing in the world. Before Kotonoha could say anything, she felt a painful bop on her head as her savior struck her.

"What the heck lady!" She heard the man say. "Look, I don't know what's going on in your life, but there ain't no way it's actually worth killing yourself over!"

After another second of rubbing her head, Kotonoha looked up and for the first time, got a good look at her savior. He looked to be around her age, with long black hair that was braided into a pig tail, stormy blue eyes, and a handsome face. One that made her blush as red as the Bruce Lee like kung fu shirt he was wearing.

The young man blushed after finally getting a look at the girl he had just saved. She was around his age, with long purplish black hair, dark maroon eyes, and, he really blushed at this part, a large, LARGE bust size. He shook his head to get his mind clear and out of the gutter.

"Look, I don't know what you were thinking, but do that again and I might have to just knock that suicidal crap out of your head." He said bringing his hand back. But he hesitated when he saw the girl start to tear up. Panicking, the boy brought his hands up.

"H-Hey! Look, I'm sorry! I wasn't serious! I-I don't want to hit you again! I'm sorry! Please don't cry." He pleaded, waving his hands frantically. Kotonoha tried to dry her eyes.

"Why?" Kotonoha asked in between sobs. "WHY DID YOU SAVE ME!?" She shouted at the boy. The red shirted boy flinched backwards.

Sheesh! What is it with women? Honestly. He thought.

"Why?" He asked back. "Because no one has the right to take their own life, no matter how bad their life is!" He shot back.

"I WANTED TO DIE!" She screamed.

"AND I SAY NO TAKING THE COWARDS WAY OUT!" He screamed back. She teared up more and started pounding on the boy's chest. She couldn't talk. All she wanted was to take out her frustrations on something.

The boy just sat there and let her beat on his chest. It didn't hurt. He had felt much worse over his life in Nerima, and he could tell this girl, whoever she was, was like him in a way. She, like him, just wanted to vent.

So, he just let her beat away for a minute or two until she ran out of steam and just collapsed into his chest, sobbing away once again. The boy did not have too much good luck with this part of upset and crying girls, but he had learned enough from his mom and his experiences to know that the best thing to do was to hug her and let her cry.

After another minute, he decided to ask the only thing he could think of.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked. After sniffling for a bit, she looked up at him with eyes blood shot from her tears. She dried her eyes and nodded her head.

"Soooo, what's up? And if it's really that bad, I might be able to help." He said with a smile. "I mean, as long as it evolves punching someone in the face."

Against her own sad will, Kotonoha giggled a little. And to be fair, the idea of punching Makoto and Sekai in the face did bring a smile to her face.

"Hey! A smile!" The boy said. "The first one I've seen on you all night! I call that a victory."

Kotonoha really tried to stop smiling, but for some reason, this boy was making it hard to do so.

"Well, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," said Kotonoha.

"Even if that stranger saved your life?" He asked. Then he decided to add in something else.

"But if you really want to know my name, it's Ranma. Saotome Ranma." He said with his infectious smile. Kotonoha gave a sad smile.

"My name's Katsura Kotonoha." She said. Ranma helped her back to her feet.

"That's a cute name." He said as he lead her to a bench so they could sit while they talked.

"So, What the heck's got you so down you tried to kill yourself?" He asked. Immediately, the smile fell from the girl's face.

"It's..." She tried to say. "It's...my boyfriend." Ranma had a feeling he knew where this was going. Kotonoha then went onto explain.

She explained how she met Makoto and how they started dating. She then told him about how he started cheating on her with a bunch of girls and yet she still forgave him. But then he she caught him cheating on her with a girl named Sekai, who was both her only other friend and Makoto's old childhood friend.

What really got Ranma ticked off was when she told him about how this Sekai woman stole Makoto after she had gone through the trouble of setting the two of them up in the first place. And afterwards, all the girls who had slept with Makoto had gone on to brag about how they slept with him during the time he was dating Makoto.

Kotonoha had done her best to pretend it wasn't true. Makoto had promised that he wouldn't do it again, and she believed him. And then this. She clutched Ranma's shirt as she cried into his chest. Ranma felt bad for her. In a way, he could relate.

"Sheesh." He said as he hugged her. "And here I thought I had relationship troubles."

Kotonoha looked up at him with a questioning gaze.

"What do you mean?" She asked as she dried her eyes. Ranma took a deep breath.

"Well, let's just say there's a reason why I'm walking between towns on a cold night like this." He said. And so, Ranma went into his own story.

Several hours before Ranma ended up at the bridge saving Kotonoha, he was walking through the hall of the Tendo home with a little something in his pocket. He was smiling as he headed to Akane's door. He had been looking forward to this all day, which to everyone who knew him, was surprising.

As Ranma reached the door he heard noises coming from the door. He placed his ear on the door and paled. The noises sounded an awful lot like...sex. Between her and some other guy. Not wanting to believe it, he burst down the door...and regretted it.

There was Akane, in bed with one of his old rivals, Kumon Ryu.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" He shouted at the startled pair. Akane scuffed at him while Ryu was spooked at the sight of his old rival and his glowing red battle aura.

"What the fuck are you doing here Ranma?" Akane shouted as she covered her body with a sheet.

"That's what I want to know about HIM!" Ranma said as he pointed at Ryu.

"You said he wouldn't be home today." Ryu said. Akane, however, didn't even look rattled by Ranma.

"You have your sluts so why can't I have my own cheating buddy."

An argument between them erupted that woke up the whole neighborhood. Kasumi and Nabiki looked towards Akane's room and saw a half-dressed Kumon Ryu running from a enraged Ranma.

"STOP CHASING MY BOYFRIEND!" Akane shouted at Ranma. He turned around to face her.

"BOYFRIEND!?" He shouted back, backed up by the whole house. But the one who was almost as angry as him was his mother. After seeing the man who had pretended to be her son in order to find some scroll running through the house, she knew something was wrong. And now she knew something was wrong. And she didn't like the look or sound of it.

"Of all the times you called me a cheating bastard, you go behind my back and do the very thing you accuse me of doing!?"

"SO WHAT!?" Akane shouted back.

"Now children.." Soun tried to but in, only to be hit with a strong punch to the gut by Ranma that sent him flying through the house.

"DAD!" The three daughters shouted. Genma tried to get to Ranma.

"BOY..." But he didn't get a chance to finish because Ranma kicked him through the roof. Happosai was so scared of what he saw that he didn't know what to do. One thing was for sure though, Ranma was officially pissed off.

"STOP WRECKING MY HOUSE!" Akane shouted. Ranma turned on his now officially ex-fiancé and pulled a little black box out of his pocket.

"Take this and fix it you BITCH!" He shouted as he threw the box at the bob-haired girl. It struck her right in the face and sent her flying into the wall. After that, Ranma ran off into the night.

"Ranma!" His mother and Kasumi called out to the retreating boy. But he was to far gone to hear. Nodoka went over to the unconscious Akane and gasped at what she saw in the black box...an engagement ring.

"She cheated on you when you when you were going to propose to her officially?" Kotonoha said in shock. Ranma nodded.

"Yep. That's what I get for trying to be romantic." He said, doing his best to hide the tears in his eyes.

Kotonoha hugged him tighter. He had been through a lot, just like she had.

"I'm so sorry." She said. Ranma looked back at her and hugged her back.

"Hey, it's not your fault. I just suck at relationships." Ranma said. "And in a way, I guess it's a good thing that it happened. Because if it hadn't, I wouldn't have come out her to save you from making a big mistake."

"Bigger than forgiving a serial cheater who slept with a bunch of women just because I wouldn't?" She asked. Ranma thought for a moment.

"Yes. Because you can find a new boyfriend but not a new life." He said. "Look, from what I can tell, you're a beautiful girl. Any guy in the right mind would slit his own throat just to get a date with you." He took a closer look at her.

"And to be perfectly honest, I can't for the life of me figure out why some idiot would be stupid enough to cheat on you."

Kotonoha blushed hard. Makoto was the only person outside of her family to call her beautiful. And now here was some stranger she hardly knew calling her the very thing she wanted to hear from Makoto's lips. She looked at him and had to admit, in terms of looks, he had Makoto beat. His clothing was strange, he was Japanese but he dressed like he was from China.

But even still, he did look like one of those handsome heroes you see in the movies. She shook her head. He was just being nice. Ranma cleared his throat as he got up and extended his hand to her.

"So, um...do you want me to walk you home?" He asked, startling Kotonoha.

"HUH!?" She said startled. Ranma waved his hands in front of him to calm her down.

"Well, you don't honestly expect me to let a girl walk home alone at night, do you?" He said. "And besides, no offense, but I really don't want to take the chance that you might try and jump off this bridge again."

Kotonoha would have been offended, but she figured he might have a point. Without her Makoto, she didn't know how she was going to go on. He was her first love. And he betrayed her. She started crying again, causing Ranma to panic.

"Hey hey!" He said. "I-I was just joking. I didn't really mean that. Honestly."

He went back to her and tried to get her to stop crying. She shook her head, trying to calm down.

"No. It's not you." She said wiping her eyes. "It's...it's just that..."

Not knowing what else to do, Ranma wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close again.

"That cheating boyfriend of yours again?" He asked. She nodded. Ranma sighed as he let the poor girl cry into his chest again.

"Look," He started. "I know how it feels to be stabbed in the back. But the way I see it, when stuff like this happens to you, there's only one thing you can really do."

Kotonoha sniffled as she tried to regain her composer.

"Get over him and..."

"No!" Ranma said as he pulled her away so he could look her in the eye.

"Get back at the son of a bitch!" He said.

"EH!" Kotonoha said as she gasped. Ranma just smiled at her.

"Oh come on!" He said. "Trust me, revenge is the best medicine for a broken heart. All you got to do is find a way to make that bastard regret dumping and cheating on you so badly that he comes begging and crawling back to you. And then..."

He paused for dramatic effect as he grinned like a devil.

"You tear him to pieces by refusing him and dumping him in front of everyone!"

Kotonoha looked a little taken aback.

"But...isn't that, kind of mean?" She asked. Ranma just looked at her with a face that she had just said something stupid.

"Seriously?" He asked. "You're seriously worried about hurting the bastard who drove you to nearly committing suicide?"

Kotonoha was about to retort, but his words did have some sense to them. She still loved Makoto, but she had given him so many chances. Why should she be worried about hurting his feelings. If he had any.

"But," She started to say. "How would I even get him jealous?" She asked. Ranma grinned again.

"Simple, find yourself a better looking boyfriend, strut him around town in front of your ex for a while, and trust me, he'll get so jealous that his head will explode."

Kotonoha thought about that for a second. Ranma's plan sounded good, but it had one big flaw.

"But, who would want to pretend to be my boyfriend just for that?"

"Me." Was all Ranma said. Now it was Kotonoha's turn to give Ranma a 'you're crazy' look.

"WHAT!?" She screamed. Ranma smiled.

"Oh come on, look at me." He said waving his hands up and down his body. "I bet I'm good looking enough to get him mad. And besides, maybe we can help each other out."

Kotonoha raised her eyebrow at him.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well," He started to say. "And this is just an idea, let's pretend to date. I'll help you get back at your boyfriend and you can help me get back at my ex. We'll make them so jealous that they lose their minds."

Ranma smiled as he explained his plan. Kotonoha was shocked. This guy really want to be her fake boyfriend just to help her get back at Makoto? Yeah he wanted her to help him make his own ex jealous, but wasn't that fair? She thought about it for a second.

"Are you sure you'd want me to help you?" She asked.

"Oh course!" Ranma said. "I mean, seriously, look at you. You're the prettiest girl I've ever met. One look at you and Akane, or just about anybody, would explode like a bomb."

Kotonoha blushed. Makoto never complimented her like that before. She thought long and hard. She did have to admit, Ranma was a lot more handsome than Makoto, or just about anybody she knew at school. But did she really have the beauty to make Ranma's ex as mad as he says? She was about to tell him no thanks, but then she thought about Sekai.

She trusted her. She got her and Makoto together. Then this, and she did it in a way that looked like she enjoyed making her heart broken. And how many times had she turned a blind eye to the times that Makoto cheated on her? She started to get mad. Then the image of Ranma and her walking together in front of her and Makoto popped into her head.

The jealous looks, the idea of Ranma punching them in the face, the thought of laughing at Makoto like a maniac when she left him as heartbroken as she had been. She looked at Ranma and nodded, determination in her eyes.

"O-ok." She said. "If you really think it will work."

"Sure it will!" Ranma cut her off. "And I promise, I won't do anything like group you or whatever."

That made her laugh.

"You better not!" She said as she pushed him playfully. Ranma chuckled.

"Ok then. Girlfriend." He said with an extravagant bow. She giggled at his antics.

"Ok then, boyfriend." She said with a curtsy of her own. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Ok," Ranma said getting back up. "Now, about your home address."

Ranma walked her to her home, exchanging ideas with her about how they could make her ex-boyfriend lose his mind with jealousy. Kotonoha was only half listening to him though. She was too busy smiling at the young man that had saved her life. That's when she thought about something that she was too depressed to think about.

What was that yellow light? She thought. It was like she saw him do something right out of an anime or something.

"Ranma?" She said to get his attention. He looked at her, stopping his rambling.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"How did you save me?" She asked. "I must have been dreaming because I could have swore that I saw a yellow light come out of your hands."

"Oh, that was real." He said as casually as if he was talking about the weather.

"Huh?" She said, stopping dead in her tracks. Ranma smiled at her and held up his right hand. A second later, a small yellow orb of light formed in his hand.

Kotonoha gasped in shock. IT WAS REAL! This guy had fired a blast of energy out of his hands like those guys on Dragon Ball Z! But...HOW!?

"H-how...?" She tried to ask. Ranma just smiled. He never got tired of seeing this kind of reaction on peoples faces when he showed them ki.

"Yep." Was all he said as he dismissed his orb of ki. "I'm a martial artist." He said like that was supposed to explain everything. She looked at him.

"Did you pop out of a manga or something?" She asked. Ranma grinned and scratched the back of his head.

"No. But I'm just so awesome that I can pull off the things they can." He said. As Kotonoha dpt gaping at this strange man, Ranma looked up at the address they had just reached.

"Say, isn't this your place?" He asked. She snapped out of it enough to nod her head.

"Cool." He said as he walked her to her door. "I'll show up at your school tomorrow and we'll start getting back at your cheating ex. Uh, what school is it again?"

Kotonoha snaps out of her stupor long enough to answer his question.

"Uh, Sakakino High." She said. Ranma nodded his head and grinned.

"Cool." He said. "Well, see ya later Kotonoha. And please, stay away from bridges." He said with a scrutinizing look. Then he reached for the corners of her mouth and turned them up into a smile.

"And smile will ya? I keep telling ya, you are way to pretty to frown like that all the time." He then turned on his heels and started on his way.

Kotonoha blushed madly from the feeling of Ranma's touch on her face. She had always been afraid of men touching her, even with Makoto it took her a while to open up to him touching her. But with Ranma...she wasn't so scared. It felt, different, right in a way. She shook her head as she heard her door open.

"Kotonoha!" An older, and VERY buxom woman, who could only be Kotonoha's mom, rushed out to her daughter.

"What are you doing out here!?" She asked as she hugged her daughter close to her ample bosom. Kotonoha explained to her mother that she went out for a walk, but left out the parts about the bridge and Ranma. It was strange. Just thinking about him made her feel...happy.

Ranma was heading back to Nerima, but not very quickly. He really didn't want to put up with the Nerima crowd right now, but he needed to head back so he could have a decent place to sleep for the night. He was brought out of his musings when he heard a car drive up in front of him. A police car.

The driver side door opened and out came a woman in her early thirties, long red hair in a style similar to that one Team Rocket woman from Pokemon, wearing a purple top and wearing glasses. Ranma recognized her immediately. It was Inspector Yukika, AKA Inspector Widget of the Nerima police force. And, it just so happened, a good friend of his mothers.

"Ranma!" She called out. "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you." She said as she walked up to the young man. Ranma should have known his mom would call this woman. Out of all the people in Nerima, she was one of the few he could trust.

"Hey Yukika. How are Hideki and the kids?" He asked with a smile. She smiled back at him.

"Their fine, thanks for asking." She dropped the smile and place a hand on his shoulder.

"I heard what happened form Nodoka. I'm sorry kid." Ranma looked down, the good mood he was in suddenly forgotten.

Thanks for reminding me Yukika. He thought to himself, but to her he tried to put on a brave face.

"Yeah, I'll be ok. I just need to get some sleep." He said.

"Well, come on." Yukika said, motioning to her car. "I'll drive you to the hotel your mom's staying at."

That caught Ranma's attention.

"Hotel?" He asked. Yukika smiled.

"Come on, I'll tell you on the way."

And so she did. During the drive, Yukika told Ranma about how after the whole ordeal with him and Akane, she slapped Soun and kicked Genma in the nuts, cursing them out for forcing her son to marry such an unfaithful girl like Akane. And when they tried to say Ranma could marry one of the orther Tendo daughters instead, Nodoka snapped.

She let loose a tirade of epic proportions. The highlight was when she revealed that Genma was not Ranma's biological father.

"WHAT!?" Ranma shouted in shock. To which Yukika smirked at his shocked face.

"Yep. You heard me right. She even showed them the DNA test to prove it. And she also showed them the divorce notice and the court order saying that not only does she have full sole custody over you, but a restraining order that says neither Genma or anyone from the Tendo family is ever to come within 10 feet of you or your mom."

Ranma's mouth dropped open at that.

"Dang..." He said. "Man! Now I wish I had stayed." Yukika chuckled at that.

"Oh, if you think that's funny, you should have seen what happened when me and the rest of the cops showed up." She said. After a few more minutes they arrived at the hotel.

"RANMA!" Nodoka said as she ran to hug her baby.

"Oh Ranma. I'm so sorry." She said. Ranma returned her hug, a sad smile on his face.

The night went on without any other happenings. Ranma sighed. This was not how he saw this night going at all. He knew that as soon as the dawn comes, Ukiyo, Shampoo, Kodachi and who knows who else would no doubt be even more all over him than usual. And no doubt Nabiki would make quite a pretty penny off of this crazy nights events.

But as he thought about that, his mind went back to the girl he had met tonight. He hated to admit it, but if it hadn't been for Akane, that girl, Kotonoha, would have died for nothing. He still had no idea why some bozo would cheat on a pretty girl like that. He shook his head.

Don't get to involved Ranma. He thought to himself. Remember, you're just pretending to be her boyfriend so the two of you can get back at your separate ex's.

With that last thought, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. But for the life of him, he couldn't seem to get Katsura Kotonoha out of his mind. Her cute face and beautiful smile haunted his dreams. But even still, he couldn't help but smile in his sleep.